Hartell, MacDonald inducted into Canadian Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame

Melissa Strle
Times Reporter

 

Bob Hartell from the Strathmore area and his cousin, the late Dave MacDonald, were inducted into the Canadian Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame on Oct. 22 at the Coast Plaza Hotel in Calgary.
Hartell said he is pleased with his induction into the Hall of Fame.
“It’s just kind of like winning an Academy Award,” he said. “It’s the ultimate of whatever you do in rodeo to get inducted.”
In Hartell’s words, being inducted with his late cousin was a unique situation and very good. Hartell further reflected on the kind of person his cousin was.
“He was my mentor; he was probably the ace of cowboys,” said Hartell. “You talk about being a gentleman, which he was – and he had lots of ability.”
Hartell was a three-event cowboy, competing as a bull rider, bareback rider and steer wrestler. He won the Canadian All-Around Championship in 1975.
Before that, he won numerous amateur championships, and then joined the pro circuit in 1973, where he won three saddles within the first year in the southern circuit. He went on to win more saddles and pro saddles.
Hartell qualified for the Canadian Finals Rodeo on three separate occasions but missed competing once, in 1976, due to a broken arm. To this day, Hartell has stayed involved in the sport, supporting the future generations that now include his grandchildren.
Sandra MacDonald, wife of the late Dave MacDonald, commented on her husband’s posthumous induction into the Hall of Fame.
“I was really surprised and really delighted he (Dave) got to go in the same time as Bobby. It’s really, really excellent,” she said.
MacDonald said the two cousins were practically raised together, and Dave started riding when he was 11 years old. In all 42 years of Canadian Finals Rodeo (CFR) history, there has been only one contestant qualify in three events – in 1975, MacDonald put up a record that may never be touched when he qualified for the CFR in the bareback riding, steer wrestling and tie-down roping.
Also in 1975, he placed in all four events in the Belvedere series including steer wrestling, tie down roping, bareback and bull riding. He won the all-around trophy for the Belvedere.
In 1978, he won the Canadian title in steer wrestling and in 1981 he won his last steer wrestling title.
“It was always a family affair for us,” said Sandra MacDonald, reflecting on special times with her family and Bob and Yvonne Hartell. “Bobby and Yvonne traveled down the road with a camper and their kids and so did we. For a long time we rodeoed together. We covered a lot of miles.”
Indeed, Hartell and all his cousins grew up together and rodeoed together. They came from a family line that had a history of rodeo. In earlier years, the cousins were a constant force on the rodeo circuit.
“We actually worked probably every event there was except saddle bronc riding,” said Hartell.
Rodeoing has been a way of life for the Hartell family since Bob’s great grandparents arrived in the Calgary and Strathmore area in 1897 and started raising purebred Suffolk Punches (heavy horses). At the time, they had 30 head of horses and 30 head of cows.
Bob’s great grandfather, F.J.Hartell, emigrated from the U.K. to Ontario, before moving on to homestead at Fort Qu’Appelle, Sask. in 1885. He was winner of the Dominion Exhibition Challenge Cup presented by the Suffolk Horse Society of England in 1911, 1912 and 1914.
Bob Hartell was born to Jack and Mag in 1948 and grew up in the Strathmore area. He attended Samuel Crowther School followed by Olds Agricultural College.
Bob and Yvonne live just west of Strathmore. Their son Wace has a ranch in Saskatchewan and daughter Lindy has a ranch just south of Whitecourt, Alta. Lisa lives in Calgary.
Rodeoing is still a major part of the family as some of Bob’s grandkids continue to seriously rodeo. Grandson Tate MacDonald is a pro bareback rider and grandson Gunner Fuchs rides bulls and team ropes.
“Out of seven grandkids, I’ve got four that are really rodeoing,” said Hartell.
When asked when he stopped rodeoing, Bob replied, “I haven’t stopped,” as a testament to how much rodeoing has always been part of his life. However, he revealed he stopped actively rodeoing after he got a bareback riding buckle in 1987.
Prior to that, he attended rodeos and then went on to old timer’s rodeos a few times after 1982-83 where he still continued to win.